Sacking Grant would be madness

Grant guided the club into their first Champions League final with a 4-3 semi-final aggregate success over Liverpool on Wednesday night.[>

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Apart from their Moscow date against Manchester United, Chelsea are still fighting it out with Sir Alex Ferguson’s men for the Premier League title with two games to go.[>

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But even though he has succeeded where Jose Mourinho failed, there is still a real possibility Grant will be axed if Chelsea fall at the final hurdle in both competitions.[>

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But Terry thinks that would be madness and says Grant should be shown the respect he deserves.[>

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He said: “I would have thought getting to the final is enough to keep the manager in a job, things have been very good and results don’t lie.[>

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“You look at the Premier League table since the manager’s taken over and he has been very good.[>

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“It’s for the club to make the decision. All we can do is get out there and do our best for the manager, which is what we’ve done to get to the final.[>

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“It’s incredible. To get to where we are and still question the manager’s role at the club is unbelievable really.[>

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“It’s the first time in the club’s history we’ve got to the final. It’s never been done before by any manager or any set of players. Avram deserves respect.”[>

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Chelsea’s season has been dogged by in-fighting and injuries. But Terry believes the fact Chelsea are within touching distance of winning a domestic and European double proves Grant has done a good job.[>

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“We never let anything get us down, we keep fighting right until the end,” said Terry. “We’ve shown great character all year, even when the bigger players have been out of the squad. Players have come in and done well and kept us in these competitions.[>

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“The manager has played a massive part, along with the players, Steve Clarke, Henk ten Cate, the fans and everyone at this club.[>

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“Everybody had a big part to play, none more so than the manager, Henk and the players.[>

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“Credit to ourselves and the way we’ve dealt with things this year because at times it has not been easy.[>

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“It’s the coaching staff as well who, behind the scenes, have a big role to play. They keep the players motivated.[>

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“We’ve got such a big squad, how do you keep those who aren’t playing motivated? The manager and coaching staff have managed to do that, so it’s a credit to them.”[>

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Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri knows how ruthless Abramovich can be, having been sacked by him in 2004, and thinks Grant is still some way from securing his future.[>

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“I think if Grant doesn’t win the final, he’s finished in the job,” said Ranieri.[>

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“I think if Grant wins something, then OK, maybe he’ll continue. But I don’t know the mind of Roman Abramovich, it’s very difficult to know what he thinks.”[>

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Chelsea fans, meanwhile, could be hamstrung by their own club’s refusal to organise a Champions League final ticket ballot before the semi-finals, as they face a race against time to get visa applications accepted.[>

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Incredibly, with Russian officials urging fans to make their applications for the necessary visas “as soon as possible”, Chelsea will sell the first of their 21,000 allocation only on Sunday, the bulk on Monday and non-season ticket holders must wait until next Thursday to find out whether they can get a ticket.[>

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UEFA appealed to all four clubs in the semi-finals to organise ticketing for the final on a ‘what if’ basis and United and Liverpool complied.[>

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As a result, separate balloting of season ticket holders and other fans took place in Manchester ahead even of the first leg, and last week supporters were told whether their applications had been successful. Chelsea failed to take a similar approach and all a spokesmen would say yesterday was that they had sought “clarification over visas” before beginning their own ticketing process.[>

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All applications for visas must be conducted through the Russian National Tourist Office in London.[>

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But tourist board director Mikhail Ignatieff urged supporters not to delay in sending in their applications by post and not to leave things to the last minute.[>

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Both clubs had delegations in the Russian capital yesterday and will return with their tickets late tonight.[>

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